Trumansburg Creek, New York, US

Trumansburg to Rt. 89

Trumansburg Creek

Trumansburg Creek
Photo by Andy Cook taken 12/24/08 @ 200 cfs.

River Description

Warning The following description is pretty basic. I've only run this creek once and haven't done too much research. I'll try to update it soon. Until I get some better information approach this as an exploratory trip.

This is a very narrow, technical creek with a tiny drainage. Many of the drops are barely a boat wide. Plus, it's in a narrow gorge with walls that aren't super high, but are steep. Portaging is generally doable, but tricky. We also encountered one landowner who took offense to our scouting adjacent to his property. This is at a narrow drop into a little hole followed immediately by a 6 footer into a cauldron about 4 ft. wide. You'd be better off getting out on the right; away from the landowner and on the better side to scout or set safety. After this there are approximately 7 drops until Rt. 89.

The next drop was a 4 ft. drop into a hole with a log in it into a 8 ft. drop. We all ran it. The next drop was a tight boof charging left onto a slide. Falling off to the right would result in elbow to rock impact. The next couple of drops were slides that funnelled into boat width slots with decent holes at the bottom, one of which everyone else walked after seeing me totally sub out my Salto. All of this is in a tight shale gorge with portaging available only at low water and can be seen directly upstream from 89.

Despite these troubles, this is a very interesting creek. It's got very interesting bedrock formations and many of the drops have deep landings (unlike most everything else in CNY).

The rapids are quite varied in character and pretty much all need to be scouted. The first one you come to starts with a slide and ends in a 10 ft. ledge that lands on bedrock and forms a room behind the curtain. We walked on the left. After that there's probably 10-12 horizon lines that should be scouted. All told, it took us about 4 hrs. to go a mile or two.

From the takeout where the creek flows under Rt. 89, drive up the road on river left. Veer left where the road splits. You'll come into Trumansburg and see a bridge to the left that crosses the creek. We put in there and parked on the side of the road. We didn't have trouble parking there, but I wouldn't guarantee that it's legal.

Be warned that you do not want to miss the takeout at Rt. 89. There's a fun drop under the bridge, then a slide that might be runnable with the right conditions, Then an unrunnable, enormous two-stage slide, then a monster. The monster is enormous, at least 100 feet and it bounces on the way down.

If you have more time check out Taughannock Creek. It's about 2 miles away.

Let me know if you get there or have any further information.

Lat/longitude are approximate, from Topozone.com